Sciatica Relief General Chat

[Ozzy47]

I know there are some people here that are into exercising and such. So has anybody here dealt with sciatica?

I need some relief from this. I've tried heating pad, ice and Alieve (NSAID) and nothing really seems to help much. Been dealing with this for a week and a half now and it's getting old. I suppose I need to go to my DR. but I'm trying to avoid that.

I am not overweight, and am in pretty good health and physical condition. I had a stress yeast last year and it took 5 minutes longer than an average person my age to reach the target heart rate, indicating that I'm in very good physical condition.

 

[Ozzy47]

I should probably note, that at this time I don't have much time for rest. Over the past three weeks I've worked somewhere around 225 hrs and it might be that way for another week.

 

[Gemma]

I would advise a visit to the doctors to be certain that it is sciatica but could be a ruptured disc pressing on the sciatic nerve.

We generally tell members of our classes that movement is good, stretching however is bad, heat is also good. Resting isn't really good either.

Some good advice in this video



Tom might have some more advice, I remember he had sciatica a few years ago.

 

[Tom]

Ah sciatica, where to start.

The most important thing with sciatica is first of all identifying the cause of it and not just treating the symptomes i.e. the pain with painkillers (I was guilty of this). You should really go to a GP or medical doctor with experience of this to get this properly diagnosed and be sure, having an MRI scan is normally the best thing for this.

I did use painkillers, I think it was called Naproxen (another NSAID, actually I think that could be another name for Aleve) and when the pain was unbearable Amitriptyline.

If heat pads aren't working, you could also try ice packs. I tried both and had more success with ice but the relief was minimal.

Physiotherapy was the only thing that worked for me. I tried a chiropractor but to be honest it was a total waste of money. That video above that Gemma posted has good advice but exercises like that aren't for everyone - there are tons on Youtube. My physio had similar exercises and also massages.

 

[Fraser]

Everyone has different problems. I was convinced mine was posture and the way I held myself. I worked really hard on core stuff (stretches, getting up and moving around if I was sitting at work too long etc) and have continued it. I run now and do lots of yoga. You're best off seeing someone and get them to put a plan in place for you.

 

[Crabtree]

I ended up going to physiotherapy and ended up having about 8 sessions of traction and getting an exercise programme which takes the edge off most of the time. Sometimes I need painkillers too but a tablet can only give temporary relief. You need to see a physical specialist to get to the root of the problem.